The Flying Club Cup is Beirut’s second studio album, released in 2007. Recording started in a small studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico and later finished in Arcade Fire’s “Petite Église”, a renovated church in Farnham, Quebec. The album features a larger, more rounded range of instrumental accompaniments, including string arrangements by Owen Pallett, who is well known as a contributor on two Arcade Fire albums; Funeral and Neon Bible.

According to notes given out at Beirut’s performance at the Society of Ethical Culture in 2007, each song in this album is meant to evoke a different city in France. Lead singer and writer Zach Condon had a fascination with cities, particularly those in France, where he spent significant time and where he recorded music videos for many of them. Condon told NPR that:

I’ve always had a fascination with city names, actually. I used to paint them on my wall in my bedroom and on my bike, and I don’t know why.